


Roadrunner

by HopeStoryteller



Series: stay close (move fast) [9]
Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: F/M, Female Runner Five, Implied Relationships, because FIVE AND SAM ARE PINING IDIOTS, because??? it's just going back to normal now??? nah, post S3M10, setting the record straight when absolutely nobody involved is, tbf that's all I do with 5am here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24834961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeStoryteller/pseuds/HopeStoryteller
Summary: Out of the frying pan and into the fire, the old saying goes. When faced with a choice between a traitor that's supposed to be dead and the Dedlocks, Five thinks she'd much rather take her chances with the merciless former retail workers.But she didn'tgeta choice. She doesn't really have one now, either. She's going to leave sooner or later, preferably sooner. Except... there are some things that have to be said, some things she never planned on saying since he was supposed to be dead and zombie chow.
Relationships: Janine De Luca/Simon Lauchlan, Runner Five/Sam Yao, Simon Lauchlan & Runner Five
Series: stay close (move fast) [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698457
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Roadrunner

Five should leave, as fast as she can. Three—Simon—has clearly well and truly lost it, and for all his insistence that he literally can’t die now, a part of him definitely died there. But... there’s some things that have to be cleared up. Some things that have to be said, that she has to say, because clearly Simon hadn’t been in on the radio chatter that day.

(Of course he hadn’t been. He’d been planning to poison Abel. He'd been planning to poison _Sam_. Sam, who must be worried sick right about now, and who she needs to get back to as soon as possible. He has to know she’s okay. She has to get back.)

“Janine didn’t think it was you,” she says instead, turning back even as she stuffs the files in her pack. “For the record.”

Simon laughs. “Oh, please. You all knew it was me. Bad apple from the start.”

“No. We didn’t. It was narrowed down to two runners, at the end. Me and you. Sam thought it couldn’t possibly be me.” She looks at him pointedly, fixing her gaze on the mask. “He was the only one who did. Janine was convinced it couldn’t be you. If you hadn’t...”

If he hadn't, y'know, kidnapped a literal child to save his own miserable, pathetic skin.

“Ran,” she says simply instead. “When you did. I don’t think I’d be here now. Even after that—Janine wanted to bring you in. She was sure there was some explanation that this wasn’t right, that you hadn’t done it. And then you went and kept making it more and more obvious.”

Simon doesn’t move for a long moment. Five isn’t entirely sure if he’s even breathing and definitely doesn’t want to check.

At last, he says, “Are you trying to make me shoot you, or...?”

“I would really, really appreciate you not doing that. So no.” Five smiles, but her lips don’t move quite the right way. The result is more of a grimace. “You said everyone in Abel turned on you, that they knew you were going to betray them from the start. I promise you, they didn’t. If anything, they were like that with _me_.”

“Are you done?”

“Yeah, I am.” Five exhales slowly. “I won’t tell them who I got these from. I owe you that much. Might joke about having gotten them from the Phantom of Abel.”

Simon makes a strangled noise. It takes Five far longer than it should to realize that it’s a poorly concealed laugh. A genuine one, not the nervous, angry laughter of the entire run here.

“If you want.” Simon pauses, looking very much like he wants to say something, but thinks better of it. “Now go. Get out of here before I decide maybe I will shoot you.”

Five doesn’t have to be told a third time. She leaves, carefully retracing her steps, and runs the way she’d wanted to at the willow.

* * *

Her headset doesn’t start working again until she’s halfway back to Abel, and well, _well_ out of Dedlock territory. Even then, it’s staticky. But she knows Sam’s voice when she hears it, and she nearly cries when she does.

_“—ive? Come in, Runner Five, come... yes, I know she’s probably...! I’m not... gotten out of tougher situations than this...”_

Of course, the instant the transmission clears up fully, it’s not Sam speaking.

_“You are wasting everyone’s time here, Mr. Yao. Runner Five is dead. If she isn’t, the Dedlocks have her, and I will not waste this base’s resources on retrieving what is left of a single runner.”_

Amelia. Fucking. Spens.

Forget Simon, Five has never wanted to kill someone so much as she does now. Unfortunately, the next base commander would probably be even worse. Why couldn’t they have just left Janine in charge? Oh, right, politics. Still ruining everything even after the literal apocalypse.

_“Just... give me a little more time. She got out of there, I know she did. She—do you see that?”_

_“I see static from her headcam.”_

Okay, enough staying quiet, fuck Amelia.

(Five wouldn’t be opposed to it if it wasn’t for Amelia being... Amelia. And also being opposed to the old horizontal tango in general, really, but now is thoroughly not the time for that.)

“This is Runner Five, can anyone hear me?” She asks, as loudly as she dares.

A quick glance over her shoulder confirms it: no zoms or Dedlocks. Good. The last thing she needs is more angry people, dead or alive, chasing her.

“Sam?” She calls, a bit louder. “Can you hear me?”

One harrowing second of silence passes. Two. Then, at last, comes an audible, _“Oh my god.”_

Five grins despite herself. “Hey, Sam, sorry for the scare. Had to do a lot of backtracking, but I think I lost them. And I found something interesting, too.”

 _“What?”_ Amelia demands.

“Not sure. I’ll be able to take a better look at it once I’m back at Abel.”

Translation: you’re not finding out if I don’t come back.

_“Very well. Mr. Yao, bring Runner Five in. I expect a full report first thing tomorrow morning.”_

There’s the sound of someone fumbling with their headphones, then a door closing. Sam lets out a relieved sigh and whispers, _“She’s gone.”_

“Good,” Five says.

 _I really, really don’t like her,_ she doesn’t say.

“What do you think it would be like, if the Major was still here?” Five says instead.

 _“I don’t know.”_ Sam yawns. _“Sorry. Late night last night. Let’s get you home, Five—I’ll see what I can do about that report while you’re on your way.”_

“Thanks,” Five says, and she means it.

She might not like Amelia Spens very much. Honestly, she doesn’t like Amelia at all. But as long as she doesn’t change too much, as long as she’s at least somewhat reasonable, Five’ll put up with whatever she does. There's just one exception. One seemingly insignificant, but really not at all, exception.

If Amelia tries anything, _anything_ at all, with Sam? Five isn’t sure what she’ll do, or if she’ll survive it. She’s just sure that Amelia won’t.

**Author's Note:**

> Simon: yeah I bet they all jumped on me instantly didn't they?
> 
> Me: actually, no.
> 
> wasn't planning to write this but then again. SIMON WHAT THE FUCK I honestly. hoped he WAS dead and HE'S NOT WHAT THE FU
> 
> *ahem*
> 
> so the last few runs have been. a roller coaster. and then??? it looks like the next mission is just??? another mission?????? nothing about me coming back online, because there is no way Sam wasn't freaking out for quite a bit there???????????
> 
> anyway this is what fic's for :D


End file.
